BLOG

Diabetes Awareness Month

Did you know that people who are unable to afford healthy foods to put on the table are at much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes?

The chronic stress of food insecurity and poverty releases a stress hormone (cortisol) that further increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Once a person living in poverty has diabetes, it is difficult to get back to being healthy again, because healthy food is a key part of diabetes treatment and is also more costly.

Some foods that are recommended to manage diabetes are fresh vegetables and fruit, whole grains, and less processed, and these food are not within the budget reach of people living with food insecurity.

Beyond food, poverty also reduces access to physical activity programs, safe walkable neighbourhoods, and necessary medications, all needed to create better health for those living with diabetes.

The choices you make often depend on the choices you have and healthy food is expensive.

The Ottawa Food Bank recognizes the importance of healthy food:

  • Each year we set new targets for the amount of healthy food we distribute – this year, 47% of the food distributed was fresh
  • We harvested 178,000lbs of food this year from the Ottawa Food Bank’s Community Harvest Farm! We believe in the health building potential of the foods we provide and aim to provide as much fresh vegetables and fruit as we are able. Our farm helps us do this.
Below are tasty recipes!

Kindly note that soup recipes are not like baking recipes where the exact quantities are more critical to the end product. Experiment a little with soups, if you don’t have an ingredient that is okay, if you want to substitute an ingredient, try it. With spices and herbs, you can really make the soup your own by playing around with those. The one ingredient that is a must in all soup recipes in my house is onion followed closely by garlic. 

Tasty Soups

Resources:

Unlockfood is created by dietitians.

Check out the healthy diabetes recipe booklets available for Caribbean, Chinese, South Asian and Latin American cuisines.

https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Diabetes/Diabetes-Recipe-Booklets.aspx

Enjoy our recipes below with the whole family. Diabetes-friendly recipes are generally heart-healthy, gut-friendly and support general good health and they can be enjoyed by anyone.

https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Diabetes.aspx

Diabetes Canada has a number of resources from wellness tips, recipes and contact information for your local office that offers regional support.

https://www.diabetes.ca/

For more recipes click here.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archives

Need food?

Use our look up tool to find the community food program in your neighbourhood.